UC Santa Cruz faculty members Patty Gallagher (Theater Arts), Gary Young (Literature) and Shelley Stamp (Film and Digital Media) have been chosen as the three inaugural recipients of the Pavel Machotka Chair in Creative Studies at Porter College.

Named in honor of Pavel Machotka, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Provost Emeritus of Porter College, and founder of the aesthetic studies major, the college chairs were established to encourage innovative teaching, research, and creative work, and to enrich and diversify the Porter College curriculum.

The chairs are also designed to increase the opportunities that Porter students have to form relationships of lasting consequence with the people who teach them.

Each recipient of a Machotka Chair will be appointed for a three-year term, effective July 1. The chairs will receive a total of $16,000 in activity funds, as well as the opportunity to teach a five-unit seminar course in the area of his or her research or discipline.

At the end of the award period, the Machotka Chairs will also share their work with Porter College in a community presentation.